Charles H. Burnette, innovative architect and designer, professor emeritus, and author, has died at 89
He earned three degrees at the University of Pennsylvania and taught for years at the University of the Arts and the University of Texas at Austin. Charles H. Burnette, an innovative architect and designer, professor emeritus at the University of the Arts, and author, has died at age 89 from a stroke. Known for combining design and architecture to create new ways of building structures, Burnette was known for his innovative work. He led the Philadelphia Solar Project in the early 1980s, the first long-range study on solar power in a major U.S. city, and introduced design concepts that revolutionized education, business, and research practices. He also pioneered the use of early computers and environmental factors into his projects. He was named professor of architecture at Texas from 1973 to 1976 and later served as dean of the School of Architecture at University of Texas at Austin. His legacy includes the Charles Hamilton Burnette Prize for exceptional graduating students in 2020.
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Dr. Burnette was interested in combining design and architecture to create new ways of building structures. Read more
Charles H. Burnette, 89, of Philadelphia, innovative architect and designer, professor emeritus at the University of the Arts, former dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin, and author, died Sunday, March 3, of a stroke at Pennsylvania Hospital.
Celebrated as an expert in design thinking by colleagues around the world, Dr. Burnette said in an online profile: “I am interested in how the mind works during purposeful thought and design thinking, and in building a theory that enables multidisciplinary collaboration.”
So he constructed his own 66-year career that helped designers discover what people wanted, form ideas to meet those needs, and test theories to see what worked. And many of his programs were groundbreaking.
He coordinated the Philadelphia Solar Project in the early 1980s, the first long-range study on solar power in a major U.S. city; established a Design with Kids program in the early 1990s that equipped school teachers with improved tools to enhance their lessons; and introduced design concepts that revolutionized education, business, and research practices.
He designed many of the “sunspaces” used in the solar research project and told The Inquirer in 1980 with flawless foresight: “A solar industry would create jobs, would be anti-inflationary, and the money would stay in the local economy.” He pioneered the use of early computers in design and architecture, and included previously ignored personal, social, and ecological factors into his projects.
Longtime friends and colleagues called him “an original mind” and “a true innovative thinker and inspiration to all who met him.” His family said he was “a deep thinker, big dreamer, and continuous learner” in a tribute, and said: “His goal was to apply design thinking creatively to improve the human experience.”
Dr. Burnette was a professor in the Industrial Design Department at Philadelphia College of Art, now the University of the Arts, from the 1970s to 2000, and founding director of its graduate program. He was named professor emeritus at UArts in 2019, and a group of alumni established the Charles Hamilton Burnette Prize for exceptional graduating students in 2020.
As a professor and dean at Texas from 1973 to 1976, he improved the quality and scope of the school’s curriculum, and expanded the faculty. In an online tribute, a former colleague at Texas said Dr. Burnette “was full of energy and great ideas.”
He established his own architectural and design firm, Charles Burnette and Associates, in Philadelphia in the late 1970s and worked earlier as a research assistant at the University of Pennsylvania and an industrial designer in New York. He also served as executive director of the Philadelphia chapter of the American Institute of Architects and was founding director of the Center for Planning Design and Construction in Philadelphia.
Dr. Burnette served on boards and committees, consulted on many projects, led workshops and conferences, and lectured at design schools in Canada, Europe, and elsewhere around the world. He was active with the Industrial Designers Society of America and International Council of Societies of Industrial Designers, and served for a decade on the international advisory board for the University of Art and Design in Helsinki, Finland.
He authored and edited scores of papers and book chapters about design, and his Directory to Industrial Design in the United States was published in 1992. He never stopped writing, and his final publication appeared in February.
He earned bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees in architecture at Penn, and received a Pew Fellowship in the Arts in 1993. “He was always reading, always writing, always thinking,” said his daughter Allegra.
Charles Hamilton Burnette was born Nov. 5, 1934, in Greenville, S.C. He went to Penn for its architectural curriculum and earned his bachelor’s degree in 1958, master’s degree in 1963, and doctorate in 1969.
He met Margo Malden in New York, and she thought he was “the most interesting man I knew.” They married in 1962, had daughters Arianne and Allegra, and bought a historical house in Society Hill.
He guided his family on a six-month tour of Europe in a pop-top camper in 1976 and ‘77, and waxed lyrically, his family said, about “the quality of light, the architectural spaces, and the poetry of it all.” He continually found great satisfaction in restoring their home in Society Hill.
Dr. Burnette served in the Army Reserve, was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, and worked with his son-in-law, Bill Schaaf, on graduate programs at UArts. “He was always charming,” his wife said. “He was cheerful and open and friendly.”
“He was,” a former colleague said, “a dreamer, a poet, and a thinker.”
In addition to his wife and daughters, Dr. Burnette is survived by two grandchildren and other relatives. A sister died earlier.
A celebration of his life is to be held later.
Donations in his name may be made to the Charles Hamilton Burnette Prize in Design at the University of the Arts, 320 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19102.
Onderwerpen: In Memoriam